Murder by Death

Ugh.  I have no idea what to say about this book.  It's not my thing at all.  Hearing the narrator talk about Dungatar and its inhabitants, I kept imagining a lemon meringue pie with maggots under the fluffy golden meringue top.  With the exception of Tilly, her mother, Teddy and the sergeant there were no redeeming characters in a book and town brimming with them.  They were all sick, twisted, inhumane caricatures, and ultimately that's what kept me listening to the book after the pivotal moment; I had no sympathy to give to any of the characters (barring Tilly), allowing me to detach and distance myself from the narrative.

But the writing is beautiful, and the narration excellent.  The narration was melodic, poetic, and always matter-of-fact, which added to the horror of the events as they unfolded.

I can't say this is a bad book at all - I totally understand why people would love it and why they made a movie of it (which I will not be watching).  But these types of dark, twisted stories aren't why I read fiction; I want to feel better, or at least thoughtful, after I've finished a book, not as though my soul has been tainted by the experience.

I'm not rating this one - at least not yet - because while I think as a book it merits a high rating, I don't want to imply that I liked the story.  I didn't.  Neither do I want to low ball the rating and imply the book was sub-standard.   Perhaps after I've sat with it a while I can come back and rate it objectively.

On the plus side, this does fulfil the book part of Task the Tenth The Holiday Down Under.